


Mankai Zoo

by scribo_ad_astra



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, more characters might be added later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 00:48:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28929792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scribo_ad_astra/pseuds/scribo_ad_astra
Summary: Sakyo's "no pets" policy is getting more lenient by the minute.
Comments: 14
Kudos: 49





	Mankai Zoo

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by one of [little-idea](https://little-ideas.tumblr.com/)'s headcanons! Go check out their blog for all your a3 needs ;)

“AAAAAAHHHHHH!”

Izumi ran into the living room. “Muku, what’s - _oh my god?_ ”

The pink-haired boy pointed a trembling finger. “There- there’s a- there’s a-a-a-”

“Yes, Muku, there’s a snake. I can see that.” Izumi edged forward cautiously until she was standing next to him, the snake still halfway across the room. It was _huge_. She’d stumbled across garden snakes in the courtyard before, but this was something else entirely- three feet long, as thick as her arm, and solid black. 

“Where did it come from?” she whispered. _And more importantly, how do we get it out of here without dying?_

“I don’t-” The snake hissed and flicked its tail. The sudden action from the previously lethargic animal made them both startle. 

Muku grabbed her hand and pulled her back. “St- stand back, Director, it’s dangerous.” The kid looked more in danger of passing out from a heart attack before the snake could bite him, but he was still taking the initiative to protect her. Izumi had to hand it to him, the middle schooler was more chivalrous than half the guys she’d ever dated. 

She ruffled his hair and forced a smile. “It’ll be okay, Muku.” Probably. “We just need to...um….”

“Muku! What’s wrong?”

“Juza!” Izumi had never been more relieved to see someone in her entire life. Surely a member of their fierce and hardcore Autumn Troupe wouldn’t have any qualms about picking up a deadly snake and throwing it outside!

“I heard you scream,” Juza continued. “What are you…” Izumi and Muku both pointed. “...oh.”

“Can you get rid of it?” Izumi begged. “Please?”

“You. Uh.” He was staring directly at the snake. “You want me to touch it?”

“Not if you don’t want to!” she said. 

“No, it’s fine,” he muttered, walking forward slowly. Each step was agonizingly long, the seconds ticking by like minutes. Finally he stopped in front of the creature. His shoulders clenched, almost like he was steeling himself. Izumi’s breath hitched. He leaned down. 

“I heard Muku yelling and came to see if Hyodo was here so I could fight him!”

Everybody jumped. The snake hissed again. 

Banri breezed post Izumi. “Yo, is that a python? Sick!” He reached down and, without a care in the world, picked the snake up. 

The others stared at him, slack-jawed. Banri took one look at their faces and laughed. “Come on, don’t tell me you guys are afraid of some overglorified pool noodle.” He shoved the snake in Juza’s direction with a smirk. “You scared, Hyodo?”

Juza flinched and glared. “If you keel over from poison, I’m not helping you.”

“Pssh. It’s venom, amateur.”

Juza was about to point out that the difference wouldn’t matter when his roommate was writhing on the ground in anguish as the toxins slowly seeped through his body, but Banri had already turned to Izumi. 

“What about you guys?”

“You’re not scared, Banri?” Izumi should be amazed, but then again, this was Mr. _Super-Ultra-Easy-Mode_. 

He shrugged. “My big sis has a boa constrictor. This little guy’s puny in comparison.” He craned his neck so the python could slither over to his other arm. “Speaking of which, where’d he come from?” 

“I don’t know,” Muku said. “I came in here to get a manga I had left behind, and it was just lying on the floor.”

“Do you have any idea where it came from?” Izumi asked. 

“Exotic snake like this? Probably someone’s pet.”

“No pets allowed in the dorm, though,” Juza said. Sakyo had been pretty strict about that rule- pets were expensive, time-consuming, and high maintenance; pretty much everything a working theatre troupe didn’t need. Aside from the stray cats that stayed in the courtyard, no animals were permitted on Mankai property. 

“I didn’t say it was somebody here, dumbass.”

“Yeah? Who else could it belong to, then?”

“Maybe it’s one of the neighbors!” Izumi said quickly. The last thing she needed was for another fight to break out between those two. 

“Or maybe it fell out of a plane that was flying to the rainforest and landed in our backyard?” Muku added.

“Yeah, that too!” Izumi racked her brain. Had anybody had any visitors recently? Had anyone been acting strange? (Well, stranger than normal, she retracted.) 

“...Make sure the next quarterly expenditure is down by three percent.”

“Aye aye, sir!”

“And cut off Chigasaki while you’re at it. I saw how much he spent for Zhongli last month. If he has that much money for a pixelated pretty-boy, he has enough to pay for his own electricity bills.”

“You’re the boss, boss!” Sakoda chirped. They entered the living room. 

Sakyo raised his eyebrow. “What is going on in-” his gaze landed on Banri and the snake wrapped around him. “Oh.” 

“Scales!” Sakoda ran forward, grinning. “There you are, buddy! I’ve been lookin’ all over for you!”

Sakyo rubbed his temples as his subordinate took the snake from the Autumn Troupe leader. “Sakoda, I told you not to bring that thing around here. Remember what happened last time?”

“That was completely Matsukawa’s fault!” Sakoda protested. “He should have known better than to throw a chair at him.”

The snake - Scales - wrapped around his neck like a scarf. Looking at it made Izumi cringe. 

“That’s your pet?”

“Haha, yeah!” He beamed, showing off his row of shark teeth. “Isn’t he cool? Sorry if he scared you guys, but he’s harmless, I swear!”

“Told you so,” Banri smirked. Juza rolled his eyes. 

Sakoda unwrapped the python from his neck. “Wanna hold him, Izumi?”

“I…” Izumi swallowed. Well, if Sakoda and Banri could do it, she could too. “...sure.”

The snake was surprisingly rougher than she had expected. “Hold on tight now,” Sakoda instructed, helping her position her hands near the head and middle. “Ah, but not so tight you’re gonna squeeze him to death. There you go, good job!”

Izumi’s heart was pounding with adrenaline. She grinned. “Wow. I’m holding a poisonous snake! And not dying!”

Sakoda scratched the back of his neck. “Oh, ball pythons ain’t-”

“It’s venomous.”

“No one CARES, Settsu.”

Muku tapped Sakoda’s shoulder. “Um, can I…?”

The middle schooler giggled as Scales slithered around his arm. “It tickles!”

“See?” Sakoda nudged him. “I told you there wasn’t anything to be afraid of!” 

“This is so cool, dude!” Kazunari grinned. The snake curled around his shoulder and arm while his one free hand fumbled with his cell phone. “My followers are totes gonna go nuts when I post this...hey Omimi, mind taking some shots for me?”

“Sure.” Omi took the phone before Kazunari could drop it. The art student grinned at the camera, striking a dramatic pose.

“Is that good?”

“Perfecto! You’re the best, Omimi!”

“Heh. Well, I try.”

Scales stuck his tongue out. It was kind of cute, Izumi thought from her position on the sofa. Like a little _blep_. She couldn’t believe she’d been scared of him a few weeks ago. 

“You sure you don’t wanna hold him, Tenten?”

“No way!” Tenma stepped back. Of course, there were still a few people that hadn’t come around to their occasional serpentine visitor. “I’m not touching that thing!”

“Scaredy-cat,” Yuki smirked as he patted the snake on the head before Kazunari put it back into the tank. It was a simple enclosure, with bedding and a heat lamp. Sakyo had agreed to the setup very reluctantly, only because the snake might as well be comfortable if Sakoda insisted on bringing him over.

“I am not-!”

“Please. Wonder Boy could do it.” 

Tenma glowered. “So? I’m not scared or anything, I- gah!” He jumped back. 

“Tenten, what’s wrong?”

“That thing just hissed at me!”

Yuki rolled his eyes. 

“...Got it. Okay. Thanks, bossman! See ya later!” Sakoda entered the room. “Hey guys!”

“Hey, Sakoda.” Izumi stood up. “You headed out for the night?” 

“Yep!” he grinned and reached into Scales’ tank, pulling the snake out. Privately, Izumi wondered why nobody approached him about the python wrapped around his neck on his way home (he had said that was the best place for generating body heat, so Scales gravitated there naturally). Then again, if she saw someone with a three-foot-long snake on them, she wouldn’t approach them either. At least, she wouldn’t use to. 

“Bye, Scales!” she smiled and gave him some light scritches on the side of his head, where she imagined his ears would be. “Come see us again soon, okay?”

“Not that soon!”

“Can it, hack!”

The snake blepped at her. Izumi blepped back. 


End file.
